The first item of business this afternoon is a statement by Keith Brown on winter resilience. The minister will take questions at the end of his statement, so there should be no interventions or interruptions.
I am grateful to Parliament for the opportunity to make a statement on our winter resilience in Scotland.
We know that severe weather will cause disruption, but the Government has taken a wide range of steps to improve our resilience to the challenges of winter, to mitigate its impacts and to allow our transport networks and businesses to recover and daily life to get back to normal as quickly as possible. Today’s multi-agency preparations for the amber weather warnings that were issued this morning are a good example of that. Our resilience work is undertaken in partnership with a broad range of public, private and third sector partners and has included new investment, development and innovation, to learn the lessons from previous winters.
We have made sure that the lessons of previous winters have been identified, considered and acted on through the work of the winter weather review group in 2011 and through our on-going lessons-learned process. We have tested and reflected on those lessons collectively with a wide range of partners through exercise polar storm in 2011 and through exercise Arctic blast and exercise green delta in 2012, plus a range of other exercises that have taken place locally and regionally.
We have launched and are running Scotland’s fourth national resilience week and a longer-running preparedness campaign—ready for winter—in partnership with the British Red Cross and a wide range of partners, to call on everyone to make their own preparations for winter.
Transport Scotland’s winter service media launch was held earlier this week to promote and publicise the fact that, this winter, our roads will be serviced more quickly than ever when snow and ice hit.
We work constantly with our partners to improve the technology that is available to predict events and to provide early warnings to responders and the public. We have supported the Met Office in developing major improvements to its national severe weather warning service and we have invested more than £8 million in the floodline warnings direct scheme to improve information to the public about when they may be at risk from flooding.
On 14 August 2014, my colleague Paul Wheelhouse, the Minister for Environment and Climate Change, announced Scotland’s first national centre for resilience—the NCR—which will build on experience in south-west Scotland to develop national capabilities that focus on natural hazards, community resilience and flooding resilience and will provide a research purpose and facilities through the creation of the new centre for research on resilience.
We have invested sensibly in our transport resilience. For example, as of 4 November, we have approximately 693,000 tonnes of salt in stock or on order, including a Government strategic salt reserve. That represents more than double the amount of salt that was used last winter. We also have in place a range of new resources to improve intelligence, to monitor, to patrol and, where necessary, to act.
The winter fleet for trunk roads will have in excess of 195 vehicles available for spreading salt and ploughing, which is the highest level ever available on our trunk roads. That whole fleet will be available to support front-line and patrol vehicles as well as to cover breakdowns and essential maintenance.
During the 2013-14 winter season, 75 new state-of-the-art gritters replaced older vehicles and 34 of those new machines were bigger than the vehicle that they replaced, with the capacity to spread more salt. The new fourth-generation contracts winter service in the east commenced on 1 October 2014 and will follow similar principles. By the end of the 2014-15 winter season, new state-of-the-art gritters will be operational across the country.
New weather stations, temperature sensors, cameras, messaging signs, new icebreakers, a stockpile of alternative de-icers and welfare kits to help anyone affected by disruption have all been introduced since 2010.
The 2014 Commonwealth games legacy has equipped Transport Scotland with a larger pool of staff who are trained in resilience operations, while key parts of the network have been strengthened with increased camera infrastructure. We will build on that legacy to continually improve our response to severe events.
There has been significant investment in our railways and airports. ScotRail and Network Rail have invested more than £4 million to improve winter resilience, and airports have procured new equipment at their own expense and developed specialist snow teams.
We have introduced new procedures to ensure that resources are well used and that the response to challenges is as effective as possible. Those are based on the successful operation of MART—the multi-agency response team. The new purpose-built traffic Scotland control centre at South Queensferry will also improve co-ordination and joint working.
All motorways will continue to be covered by winter patrols, which will respond to incidents within 30 minutes. Control rooms can monitor the temperature on key routes remotely through sensors and see the conditions live via a network of cameras. Road users can keep up to date through a range of media, which includes using internet radio and getting smartphone updates on the move, in addition to more traditional methods. We have worked with power and telecommunications companies to help them to build their response capability further through improved customer service arrangements, the enhancement of key infrastructure and back-up systems, and the increased provision of customer information on the need to be prepared.
It is not only cold weather that causes problems; extremely high winds can also lead to disruption. Providers are taking additional steps based on the lessons of previous years, and the Government has invested in back-up systems to ensure that responders can continue to operate effectively.
We are supporting people to keep warm in their homes in spite of increases to energy bills. Unlike the United Kingdom Government, which has scrapped fuel poverty funding, we are committing almost £250 million over three years to tackle fuel poverty. We remain determined to help householders to stay warm and reduce their energy bills, and we are working with councils and energy companies to tackle fuel poverty. We have developed a protocol to help to ensure that vulnerable people can be identified and prioritised should there be issues with supplies of electricity, gas or heating oil.
We are continuing our work programme to build personal and community resilience and we are investing in the future through the development of a resilience education resource entitled “Ready for Emergencies”. It has already been used by schools throughout Scotland to help young people to assess risks and prepare themselves and their communities more effectively.
We continue to support communities that are taking steps to build their own resilience through uptake of our community emergency planning toolkit and through the provision of a range of financial and practical support to communities and local authorities.
We have improved the operation of the Government’s emergency arrangements by reviewing the experience of recent winters and other major events—such as the volcanic ash cloud, which caused substantial disruption—that have required those arrangements to be used. There is continual development of the staffing and training arrangements for SGoRR—the Scottish Government resilience room—and there is a new approach to sharing information between resilience partnerships and SGoRR when it is active.
It is true that we try to learn something new each time that Scotland is beset by severe weather. We must also ensure that we plan not simply on the basis of previous incidents but for the unexpected. It has become a cliché, but we always try to prepare for the worst while hoping for the best, not least in relation to the weather.
The Government and the responder community are doing all that they can to build Scotland’s resilience to severe weather in winter and all year round. At a time of severe economic challenges and environmental change, we need to show that Scotland’s infrastructure and services are ready to support our business and our people in order for us to be the resilient Scotland that we all want to be.
The minister will now take questions on the issues raised in his statement.
I thank the minister for the advance copy of his statement. He has spoken at length about national planning events, the national resilience centre and the additional facilities and plant that will be used to keep the trunk road network clear. However, unless councils have access to salt, machinery and people power to keep local roads open, the network of expertly and efficiently cleared trunk roads that the minister mentioned will be of little comfort to our constituents, as they will not be able to access it. Given that local authority budgets have been cut in real terms for a number of years, how confident is the minister about the resilience of the whole transport network, not just the trunk road network?
The minister briefly mentioned a range of financial and practical support for communities and local authorities. Will he say exactly what level of financial support will be provided to local authorities to deal with adverse weather? Will contingency fund money be made available to local authorities that have to deal with localised extreme weather conditions?
I might be wrong, but I do not think that the minister mentioned remote and rural communities and constituencies. What has the Scottish Government done to facilitate discussions with farmers, road contractors and other local businesses that operate with heavy plant that could be adapted to create a much wider local resilience network in rural areas?
I think that the substantive point that underlies Mark Griffin’s questions is about resources for local authorities. I am pleased that councils are getting a bigger share of the cake than they have done in the past—when I was a council leader, our share of the cake reduced every year.
I remind Mark Griffin that the final act of the previous Labour Government’s Chief Secretary to the Treasury was to advise his successor, “There’s no money left.” That is what the Labour Government told the incoming Conservative-Lib Dem Government. I make that point because, although I acknowledge that there is pressure on local government budgets, we have increased the share of the resources that goes to local authorities.
As Mark Griffin said, councils are responsible for the vast bulk of our road network. Some 94 per cent of Scotland’s roads are local roads. In law, the councils are the roads authorities, so we cannot just go in and do things on the councils’ networks. However, I hope that Mark Griffin will be reassured to hear that we work jointly on issues. For example, in the north-east, in Aberdeen, and in the south we have contracts whereby trunk road operating companies sometimes salt or grit roads for local authorities, and vice versa. That makes eminent sense.
When there has been disruption, I and Transport Scotland have asked that our resources, if they are not being used to the maximum, be offered to local authorities. Such an offer is often made but not accepted, for perfectly legitimate reasons.
Mark Griffin mentioned remote and rural communities. In my statement, I mentioned a number of related matters; he might remember that I talked about getting assistance to an area quickly, especially when there is a lack of power, water or vital communications there. In 2010-11, the biggest challenge that we faced in relation to deliveries was the final mile, especially for people who relied on unconventional energy and required a delivery to a house that could not be accessed. There was a great deal of joint working on the issue with all sorts of organisations.
On Mark Griffin’s suggestion about agricultural communities, we have examined the issue exhaustively. There are issues in that regard that do not apply in some other countries, not least those to do with legal requirements and damage to roads. However, we have been more than willing to work with communities that think that they can offer something. We have worked in a collegiate way, which is why the response has improved throughout the country, including remote and rural areas.
I am glad that so much effort has been put in. I hope that the tendency to pat ourselves on the back before a single snowflake falls does not result in my being back here in a few weeks’ time lamenting the passing of a minister who had to resign because he believed what he had been told.
In 2010-11 we had one of the worst winters in a long time, and we ran out of salt. The problem was that stocks were held at a level that was consistent with requirements over a series of mild winters. We have had three mild winters since then and I am concerned that our ambitions about salt stocks are reducing. The minister said that stocks are at twice the level that was used last year, but how does that compare with what was used in 2010-11?
I am concerned that road maintenance should be a priority. Will the minister be in a position to ensure that resources are available so that when road conditions begin to deteriorate and potholes require to be mended, local authorities have the resources at their disposal?
There are many other subjects that I could cover, but I will prioritise coastal flooding. I notice that there is a storm warning for the north-east tonight and that there will be a full moon and a high tide, so the conditions will be perfect for another flooding event at Stonehaven. Can the minister guarantee that emergency services will be on standby to ensure that communities at high risk of flooding can have the necessary support at short notice?
First, I will give the member, if he wants it, a breakdown of the salt levels that we have had not just in the terrible year of bad weather in 2010-11, but in subsequent years. I do not know whether the member is suggesting that we should have more than twice the amount of salt that we used last year, but that level of salt seems to me to be a pretty good basis for ensuring that we can deal with issues.
It is true to say that, because of the winter in 2010-11, everyone was looking for salt. For example, the Highways Agency sometimes came in and hoovered up all the available salt, which created problems for other people. We have tried to make sure that we have as much salt in stock as is necessary. However, we do not just stock salt: we have developed other materials that we can use for temperatures below that at which salt becomes ineffective. We have not only got enough salt but ensured that we have a strategic reserve of salt, and I am confident that if a local authority, for whatever reason, starts to run out of salt, it can call on our strategic reserve. That emphasises the joint working that we are talking about.
I do not think that there is a sense that we are patting ourselves on the back. I have outlined what we have done. Of course we want to reassure people that arrangements have been put in place to make sure that we can deal with winter effectively. I make the obvious point—I made this point and subsequently saw it appear very differently in the media—that we are always at the risk of disruption through weather. Scotland is not the same, as is often said, as Canada or Norway. Everyone says that they deal with snow very well. Yes, they do, but they have snow throughout their winter period, so they have a different way of dealing with it. Because of our more temperate climate, our situation is different, and we can have a sudden shift between snow, freezing rain and dry periods. Therefore, we must try to have a response that deals with the circumstances related to our weather systems.
The member asked about local authorities and road maintenance. It is the case that in the past, especially during that very prolonged and cold period in 2010-11, damage was done to local and trunk roads that was out of proportion to what we would usually expect. From memory, I am pretty sure that we provided additional resources to local government and Transport Scotland for the trunk road network. We must always keep our eye on the situation. It is local authorities’ responsibility to look after their roads and we look after the roads for which we are responsible.
However, if there is an exceptional event—Alex Johnstone mentioned flooding—we would have to look at the situation. I assure him that the responders are ready, as they are each time that we get warnings from the Met Office, whether the warning is amber or even red. The Met Office has upgraded the yellow warning for heavy rain to an amber warning, which calls for people to be prepared. South Aberdeenshire in particular is mentioned in the warning. The warning, which came into effect at 1 o’clock, will go through until 7 o’clock. The warning may have been updated since that time, but the earlier warnings suggested that there was not a risk of coastal flooding. However, I bear in mind Alex Johnstone’s points and I undertake to check the position. I will get back to him to tell him whether the warning has been upgraded to say that there is additional risk. In any event, the responders are ready to respond to the circumstances as they arise.
In that same severe winter of 2010-11, the A68 at Sutra in my constituency was closed for four days. The A68 is a major trunk road that is essential to many communities, deliveries and businesses and to connectivity between the Borders general hospital and Edinburgh royal infirmary. A four-day closure was far too long. What specific measures have been or will be taken to avoid that happening again?
I remember very well the problems at Harthill and on the A68 at Sutra. Those have both been identified as vulnerable locations. They are also defined as areas requiring special attention. They have specific mitigation measures established in the operating companies’ winter service plans. Examples of those specific measures are additional and specialist plant that is pre-deployed when forecasts of colder weather dictate it; patrols that operate outwith specified times; and additional resources.
On the issue of salt stocks in those locations, the pre-deployed vehicles will be fully loaded and supplemented by patrol vehicles that will also be fully loaded. Our south-east operating company has salt barns at Boroughmuir, Bilston Glen, Tannochside, Hawick and Newtown St Boswells, as well as Gorebridge. Collectively, that stock exceeds 20,000 tonnes.
As I mentioned in my earlier response to Alex Johnstone, we have new materials that can help in situations such as the example that the member cited of a four-day period of very cold weather or any cold snap in which temperatures are well below normal and last for a longer period. We have materials that operate below 7° below freezing, which is the temperature that salt operates down to.
We also have additional equipment; for example, there is an icebreaker. The big problem on the M8 was breaking the ice and getting the traffic moving again. We have learned those lessons and I am sure that if there are further incidents we will learn lessons from them, too. We have taken measures to help in the situation of the A68 at Sutra and the M8 at Harthill.
Although there has been robust funding for the floodline warnings direct scheme, the minister will be aware that the funding for natural assets and flooding in the budget for 2015-16 has remained the same in cash terms as previously, which means that there is a 0.5 per cent reduction in real terms. Would it have been prudent to increase the flooding budget in view of the extreme weather conditions that we have experienced? Could that still be done? Can the minister provide details—if not now then through his colleague the Minister for Environment and Climate Change—of the Scottish Environment Protection Agency’s 14 flooding strategies? I was reassured by SEPA in April that they would be forthcoming this autumn.
First, I am perfectly happy to ask my colleague Paul Wheelhouse to provide the information that the member seeks. The budget line that she referred to is also in Paul Wheelhouse’s area. That is not the only budget line that we use for flooding. There are a number of other budget lines for flooding, including those that deal with emergency situations and contingencies in terms of the Belwin formula.
A substantial amount of work has been done in different parts of the country, not least in the south of Scotland and on both of its coasts, to address the consequences of previous flooding, including coastal flooding. However, to state the obvious, it is impossible to increase the budget line every year, so we have to make choices in that regard. Paul Wheelhouse is aware of that and has allocated what he thinks are sufficient funds. As I said, I am more than happy to get back to the member with the information from Paul Wheelhouse that she is looking for.
In periods of rapid snow melt and heavy rain events, what actions does the minister believe are needed during forestry extraction operations to protect roads from slurry and logs landing on the carriageway, and to keep culverts clear so as to allow safe surface water drainage? Problems have occurred recently on routes in my constituency and elsewhere as a result of those issues.
That is a very good point. I visited the A82 just before Fort William and saw the effect of what happened there. When there is very heavy rainfall and logs have been cut far up the hill, it is possible for the logs to travel a very long distance and, as the member said, to end up at the roadside. For obvious reasons, it is important that that should not be allowed to happen.
We have spoken to Forestry Commission Scotland to ensure that for future tree cutting, which is sometimes undertaken in order to protect the safety of road users—that was true of that location on the A82 to an extent—any logs that are left are kept well away for the safety of the road network. I am talking about not logs that are prepared for timber, but logs that are cut down for the purpose of protection. That applies not just to the trunk road network but to the local road network.
As the member said, slurry is often a problem and drains can be blocked; that happened recently on the A83. We cannot prevent such things from happening right across the country, but we must ensure that we have a very quick response so that the roads are cleared as soon as possible. If a drain is not cleared, things start coming out from either side of the road and going on to it. We want to prevent that from happening.
Thousands of airline passengers faced delays and cancellations after Edinburgh airport was forced to close as a result of heavy snow in January 2011. Last December, Prestwick airport was used more because other United Kingdom airports were struggling with snow. What measures are in place to ensure that our airports will remain open throughout the winter weather?
With the exception of Prestwick, that is a matter for the individual airport operators. After the 2010-11 winter, those operators went to Scandinavia to look at the measures that are undertaken there, some of which are not applicable in Scotland. For example, some Scandinavian airports do not clear the snow off the runway; it is packed down and used. I have landed on those runways myself in the past. The snow is left on the runways, just as it is often left on roads and people use snow chains.
Lessons that are appropriate to Scotland were learned. Substantial investment was made by Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Glasgow airports because of what they found in Scandinavia. Those airports have spent more than £3 million on new measures.
During that winter, I made an offer to Edinburgh airport on a day when the trunk road next to the airport had been cleared but there were still issues at the airport. However, the equipment that we use on trunk roads is not suitable for airport runways so it is not possible for us to share equipment in that way, although we share best practice.
The airports have made substantial investment. Like the Government, the airports can be criticised for investing in equipment that might not be used for two or three years, but they have taken the necessary precautions and I am pleased that they have done so.
What practical steps can farmers take to prepare their farms for winter? In turn, what support can farmers offer their local communities in the event of severe weather?
I would hesitate to suggest that I have any expertise about agricultural concerns and the preparations that farmers can make. We regularly consult affected communities, businesses and others about the approaches that we can take to winter.
We have discussed farmers helping to move cars or snow to allow access on their local roads and we found some problems that prevent that being done on as big a scale as we and the farming community would like. However, we have talked to interested groups, in particular NFU Scotland, which has a number of other issues about using trunk roads that it would like to see advanced. We do consult the farming community, but if Roderick Campbell is aware of any remaining concerns and would like to see further consultation on joint working, I will be more than happy to meet representatives, as I have done recently, and discuss those concerns.
What, if any, rural and island emergency funding is available to hard-pressed local authorities for winter resilience work? Highland Council convener Jimmy Gray told me this morning that with 4,500 miles of roads, 1,300 bridges, and 32,000 children to get to school every morning, his authority struggles every winter to finance the staff, machinery and the 6,000 tonnes of salt that are necessary to face the challenging extremes of Highland winters.
We deal with that in exactly the same way as previous Administrations have done: it is factored into the grant-aided expenditure that local authorities receive. In relation to each area, whether it be an island authority or a Highlands authority—it can be different for urban authorities—we try to factor in the winter. We have regular discussions with Convention of Scottish Local Authorities to make sure that we reflect that.
I acknowledge what David Stewart said about the particular pressures in the Highlands, especially the point about having enough salt to cover a vast area to ensure that people can travel safely to and from school during that time. However, those things have been factored in. Beyond that, an extreme weather event is exceptional and presents exceptional demands, and the Government will always look to help local authorities in that situation.
Three members have yet to ask a question of the minister. We have a generous allocation of time for the next debate, so I intend to make sure that time is allocated now to allow those questions to be asked.
Three winters ago, efforts to clear many streets in Angus were hampered by householders responding to predicted heavy overnight snowfall by parking out on the road rather than in their driveways. They did so believing that that would make it easier for them to go about their business in the morning when, in reality, all that it did was obstruct the gritters. Cars also ended up being walled in by ploughed snow. Does the minister agree that there are simple and commonsense things that the public can do to ensure that we keep Scotland moving during severe winter weather?
Our colleague Sandra White has been trying to progress a responsible parking bill in Parliament, and some of the lessons of that apply. It is for local authorities to make sure that they send that community message, although we are happy to work with them on that.
Graeme Dey is quite right. If someone moves their car out on to a local road in particular, and that does not leave space for a gritter or a snow plough to get through, they are stopping that work. I ask individuals to think about the consequences of where they place their cars. Roads need to be gritted and made safe, so we have to allow the plant to get through.
If local authorities want to consider whether there should be a broader message throughout the country, we are more than happy to look at how we can do that jointly.
I thank the minister for the advance copy of the statement.
I make no apology for repeating the point that was made by my colleague Mark Griffin that local authorities are bearing the brunt of Scottish Government cuts, against a backdrop of rising costs. My local authority, Renfrewshire Council, remains one of the most underfunded local authorities in Scotland. In recent years, I have received numerous complaints from constituents to the effect that pathways are rarely cleared when winter weather is at its worst.
I welcome the news about 75 state-of-the-art gritters, but will the minister tell me what additional support and funding will be made available to take into account local circumstances to ensure that my constituents, especially the elderly and disabled, have access to local services? In my area, in Erskine for example, many areas are connected by pathways that are not always cleared, and many of the roads are unsuitable for gritters. In some cases, that leaves people housebound and isolated for several days.
Mary Fee says that she makes no apology for returning to the point about resources for local government. She will not be surprised to hear that I make no apology for saying that if members want more money for local government, they cannot also have more money for health—which has been demanded—more money for transport and more money for education. At some point, they have to say where that money is going to come from. Does the member not acknowledge the extent to which the financial circumstances in the United Kingdom have changed? Does she not acknowledge the fact that the budget has been cut for the Scottish Government? Does she not have any responsibility for saying where the cuts should fall? I am more than happy to listen to cases being made for additional spending but members have to identify where the money will come from. If a case that is being made does not come with that, I have to conclude that it is not serious.
I have laid out the areas in which we have provided extra resources to local government. I have also laid out exceptional circumstances. We will always do that in relation to flooding. Alex Johnstone made a point in relation to exceptional damage to roads. We will look at that, but local authorities have responsibilities—they are the roads authorities. When I was a council leader, I was responsible for the roads in my area, not one of which was a trunk road or a motorway. We were responsible for all of our roads.
Of course it is difficult. There are pressures and I acknowledge that. If there are exceptional pressures, we will do what we can to help local authorities. I believe that we have made a fair settlement for local authorities and, if necessary, we are prepared to do more.
In the event of a particularly bad winter, how confident is the minister that after a thawing of ice the infrastructure will be able to deal with localised flooding?
I have the distinct impression that Stuart McMillan had a particular location in mind when he asked that question; I know that that has been addressed by my colleague Paul Wheelhouse, along with Inverclyde Council. Of course, no man can hold back the tide, and there is no question that we have to do more in flood prevention. My view—I am not the expert in this area; Paul Wheelhouse would know better than I do—is that soft flood defences have often proved to be much more sustainable and effective than some of the hard flood defences that we have had in the past. I know that a great deal of work has been done by WWF and others to ensure that soft flood defences are used.
Stuart McMillan might be referring to an urban situation. We try to ensure that at least the roads that we are responsible for are protected from flooding. Of course, no one can anticipate what exceptional whether we may get. We design flood protection into the construction of roads and we continue to ensure that the roads that have been there for some time are better protected against flooding incidents.
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